Fire Crews Report Progress Fighting Taylor Bridge Fire

An aerial view of some of the 22,000 acres burned by the Taylor Bridge fire near Cle Elum, Wash.

Wash. Department of Natural Resources

Fire fighting officials in central Washington say it will take five to seven days to contain the Taylor Bridge fire near the town of Cle Elum. In a community meeting Wednesday, incident commander Rex Reed said the blaze has burned 22,000 acres. Previous estimates pegged the fire at more than 28,000 acres. It’s destroyed at least 60 structures.

Reed told residents that it was just too dangerous to save some of those buildings.

Reed: “It was a decision myself and my staff had to make: Do we save structures? Do we lose firefighters? And the decision’s pretty simple. And we do the very best we can. I believe we have the best of the best in this suppression effort. And we are trying our darndist to make sure we get this thing contained.”

As many as 900 firefighters are working on the blaze. Reed says they’re using air tankers and bulldozers to suppress and contain the fire.